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Shivnarine Chanderpaul's contribution to the current Cable & Wireless Series has been a day spent in the field substituting for Ramnaresh Sarwan in the second Test at the Queen's Park Oval on Tuesday.

The 26-year-old left-hander, seasoned and reliable with an average of 40.63 after 45 Tests, once commanded a place in the Test XI by right. Now, he has to fight to reclaim it from the young tyros who have suddenly appeared on the scene.

His best chance is with a compelling performance in the three-day Board XI match against the South Africans, starting at Kensington Oval tomorrow.

For all the unquestionable promise of those not long out of their teens who have settled so quickly into Test cricket Sarwan, Marlon Samuels and Chris Gayle they represent inexperience that was evident as the West Indies slid to defeat in the Queen's Park Test.

Chanderpaul was in the squad of 13 for the first two Tests but was omitted from the starting XI reportedly on the grounds that he was not yet fully match fit. The selectors will closely monitor how he goes over the weekend.

A stress fracture of his left foot that required surgery in Melbourne in December eliminated him from the tour of Australia after the first Test. His recuperation allowed him to play only the last two Busta Series matches.

It was the latest of the many injuries and illnesses that have bedevilled Chanderpaul over the past two years. He missed the home series against Australia in 1999 with an injured shoulder and was able to play only the first two Tests in England last summer because of tendinitis of the elbow. He also rested from last season's triangular limited-overs series against Pakistan and Zimbabwe because of fatigue.

There are others on both sides for whom the match could provide a ticket back into the Test team.

Reon King has been the one of the four fast bowlers omitted from the squad of 13 for the first two Tests.

But Nixon McLean's ineffective performances have opened the way for contenders. Colin Stuart and Cameron Cuffy are the other fast bowlers in the Busta XI.

Although South African captain Shaun Pollock indicated after the victorious second Test that he would not chance a winning team, Boeta Dippenaar could press Neil McKenzie for a middle order position.

McKenzie has struggled for scores of four, nine and 25 in the first two Tests and Dippenaar would advance his claims with some decent form on the ground where he scored his maiden first-class hundred for his province, Free State, against Barbados on their 1996 tour.

© The Barbados Nation